WIXLIB

AMERICAN CANADIAN GRAND LODGELodge of Sorrow orMemorial Service RitualThis is the short version of the Lodge of Sorrow authorized for use by Lodges.

Ritual for Lodge of Sorrow, or Memorial Service(After all have entered and been seated, the room lights should be preferably be turned off completely.Before proceeding, the Master should observe an interval long enough to permit the darkness to inducethe desired effect of contemplation. When ready to proceed the Master strikes a match . )These sequences should be followed only after Preparation of the Lodge room for a lodge of sorrow isaccomplished.Lights turned off completelyMusic (2 minutes) Sebastian Bach prelude CWM: Lights candle (1 or 3 candles)SW: 20 seconds after WM, lights his candle (1 or 3 candles)JW: 20 seconds after SW, lights his candle ((1 or 3 candles)CH: Lights his candle (1 or 3 candles) at the same time with JWWM: Brother Senior Warden, for what purpose are we here assembled?SW: To honor the memory of those Brethren whom death has taken from us; to contemplate our ownapproaching dissolution, and, by the remembrance of immortality, to raise our souls above theconsideration of this transitory existence.WM: Brother Junior Warden, what sentiments should inspire the souls of Masons on occasions like thepresent?JW: Calm sorrow for the absence of our Brethren who have gone before us; earnest solicitude for ourown eternal welfare, and a firm faith and reliance upon the wisdom and goodness of the Great Architectof the Universe.WM: My Brethren, commending these sentiments to your earnest consideration, and invoking yourassistance in the Memorial Service about to take place. I declare this Lodge of Sorrow duly opened.WM: *** (by holding head of gavel and thumping distinctly against the block)CH: Great Architect of the Universe, in whose holy sight centuries are but as days, to whoseomniscience the past and the future are but as one eternal present, look down upon Thy children, whostill wonder among the delusions of time, who still tremble with dread of dissolution and shudder at themysteries of the future; look down, we beseech Thee, from Thy glorious and eternal day into the darknight of our error and presumption, and suffer a ray of Thy Devine light to penetrate into our hearts,that in them may awaken and bloom the uncertainty of life, reliance upon Thy promises, and assuranceof a place at Thy right hand. Amen.BRETHREN: So mote it be!WM: * (seating the Lodge)2

MUSIC: (2 minutes) Tears in Heaven by Eric ClaptonWM: (may rise or sitting down, taking the skull in his hand) Brethren, in the midst of life we are indeath and the wisest cannot know what a day may bring forth. We live but to see those we love passingaway into the silent land.(Solemnly uncovers skull) Behold this emblem of mortality, once the abode of a spiritlike our own. Beneath this moldering canopy once shone the bright and busy eyes; within thishollow cavern once played the ready, swift, and tuneful tongue, and now, sightless and mute, itis eloquent only in the lessons it teaches us.Think of those Brethren, who, but a few days since, were among us in all the pride andpower of life; bring to your minds the remembrance of their wisdom, their strength, and theirbeauty, and when reflect that “to this complexion have they come at last.” Think of yourselves;thus will you be when the lamp of your brief existence has burned out. Think how soon death,for you, will be a reality. Man’s life is like a flower, which blooms today, and tomorrow is faded,cast aside, and trodden under foot.The most of us, my Brethren, are fast approaching, or have already passed the meridianof life; our sun is setting in the West, and oh! How much more swift is the passage of ourdeclining years then when we started upon the journey, and believed, as the young are to apt tobelieve, that the roseate hues of the rising sun of our existence were always to be continued.When we look back upon the happy days of our childhood, when the dawning intellectfirst began to exercise its powers of thought, it seems but as yesterday, and that, by a simpleeffort of the will, we would put aside our manhood, and seek again the loving caresses of amother, or be happy in the possession of a bauble. And could we now but realize the idea thatour last hour had come, our whole earthly life would appear but as the space of time fromyesterday until today.Centuries upon centuries have rolled away behind us; before us stretches out aneternity of years to come; and on the narrow boundary between the past and the presentflickers the puny taper we term our life.When we come into the world we knew naught of what had been before us, but, as wegrew up to manhood, we learned of the past. We saw the flowers bloom as they had bloomedfor centuries; we beheld the orbs of day and night pursuing their endless courses among thestars, and we learned what men had thought and said and done, from the beginning of ourworld to our day. But only through the eye of faith can we behold what is to come hereafter,and only through a firm reliance upon the divine promises can we satisfy the yearnings of animmortal soul.The cradle speaks to us of remembrance; the coffin, of hope, of a blessed trust in aglorious immortality, and a never ending existence beyond the gloomy portals of the tomb.Let these reflections convince us how vain are all the wrangling and bitterness’sengendered by the collisions of the world, far what at these will survive us?3

Not, let us hope, the petty strife’s and bitterness’s, the jealousies and heart burnings,the small trials and mean advantages we have gained, but rather the noble thoughts, the wordsof truth, the works of mercy and justice; those works that ennoble and light up the existence ofevery honest man, however humble, and become entrenched as a symbol of all that is goodforever, when his body, like this remnant of humanity, molders in its parent dust.Let the proud and the vain among us consider how soon the gaps are filled that aremade in society by those who die around them, and how soon time heals the wound that deathinflicts upon the loving heart. And from this also, let them learn humility, and realize that weare but drops in the great ocean of humanity.And when God sends his messenger to us with the scroll of death - the final summons –let us look upon it as an act of mercy, to prevent the many sins and calamities of a longer life,and lay down our heads softly and pass into the sleep that knows no waking, like one “Whowraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.”For this, at least, man learns by death: that his calamities are not immortal. To beargrief honorably and temperately, and to die a nobly, are the duties of a good man and a truemason.(An interval of profound silence for several seconds)CH: Sounds low twelve (slowly strikes twelve on gong)WM: Brothers Senior and Junior Wardens, Join me round these solemn emblems of mortality,and assist me in rendering due and appropriate homage to our departed Brethren.WM: *** Everyone risesMusic (Pleyel’s Hymn) - stop music when all three have reachedAltar.(Wardens with flowers (JR with white flower and SW with red flower) and Master withevergreen, and candles, solemnly approaches alter, each on his side of alter; place candlestickson altar corners, step back; bow; pause; JW advances .)JW: In memory of our departed Brethren, I deposit this pure white rose, emblematic of thatpure life to which they have been called, and reminding us that as these children of an hour willdroop and fade away, so, too, we shall soon follow those who have gone before us, and incitingus so to fill the brief span of our existence that we may leave to our survivors a sweet savor ofremembrance. (Deposits the White Rose at the Bible or Apron, bow, and step back).SW: As the sun is in the west, to close the day and herald the approach of night, so one by onewe lay us down in the darkness of the tomb to wait in its calm repose for the time when the4

heavens shall pass away as a scroll, standing in the presence of the Infinite, shall realize the trueand of his pilgrimage here below. Let this flower be to us the symbol of remembrance of all thevirtues of our Brethren who have preceded us to the Silent Land, and serve as a token of thatfraternal alliance which binds us while on earth, which we hope will finally unit us in heaven.(Deposits the Red Rose at the Bible or apron, bow, and step back).WM: It is appointed unto all men once to die, but after death cometh the resurrection. Thedust shall return to the earth, and the spirit unto God who gave it. In the grave all men areequal. The good deeds, the lofty thoughts, and the heroic sacrifices alone survive, and bear fruitin the lives of those who strive to emulate them.While, therefore, nature will have its way, and our tears will fall upon the graves of ourBrethren, let us be reminded by the evergreen, symbol of our faith in immortal life, that thedead are but sleeping, and be comforted by the reflection that their memories will not beforgotten; that they will still be loved by those who are soon to follow them; that in our archivestheir name are written, and that in our hearts there is still a place for them.And so, trusting in the infinite love and tender mercy of Him without whose knowledgenot even a sparrow falls, let us prepare to meet them where there is no parting, and where withthem we shall enjoy eternal rest. (Deposit Evergreen over roses or apron, step back; all threethen bows)(Master and Wardens together render the funeral Grand Honors, which are given three times)Funeral Grand HonorsMovement 1: Extend arms toward the catafalque, with the palms turned up.Movement 2: Cross arms over the breast, left arm over the right, gingers touching the shoulders.Movement 3: Raise arms above head, looking upward.WM/Wardens (in unison): The will of God is accomplished. So mote it be! AMEN.(WM, SW and JW takes candle, makes about-faces, and solemnly returns to his station; when all are inplace they simultaneously place candles on stations)WM: *Seats everyone(Light in the room are now raised to desired level)(Master proceeds to explain that at this point in the service, an appointed Orator may deliver theeulogy for all departed Brethren, or for a particular Brother. If there is more than one eulogy, a shortinterlude of music should be interspersed. Normally, when the Memorial Service is exemplified duringa Grand Lodge Communication, the names of those Brethren deceased since the previous Grand LodgeCommunication are read by the Chaplain.)Chaplain: At this point an Orator may deliver the eulogy, for all departed Brethren or for a particularBrother. (A simple recitation of the names and Lodges of deceased Brethren would suffice).5